Yoginder Kandhari

born in Srinagar, Kashmir, is a veteran of the Indian Army who served during peak insurgency periods in Assam, Punjab, and Kashmir, where he led many challenging operations against insurgents to attain notable successes. After his retirement, he contributes articles on Kashmir's insurgency and strategic topics to various newspapers and defence publications. His articles on the Kashmir insurgency are extensively cited in research papers.

Yoginder's experiences during his counter-insurgency assignment in the Valley from 1993 to 1997 compelled him to examine the events that triggered the armed uprising in the region in 1989-90, resulting in a prolonged conflict for India with no apparent end. Amid widespread violence, this period also witnessed the permanent departure of an entire community of people from the Valley. The author often wondered how such a disaster could unfold in the twentieth-century world order. While acknowledging the influence of Islamist Jihad and Pakistan's direct involvement in the violence, he felt it crucial to analyse the Indian State's response to the deteriorating security situation in the Valley during 1989-91.

Kashmir Insurgency

Deconstructing the State Response Revisiting 1989-90

The book focuses on the turbulent period of 1989-90 in Kashmir. However, to grasp the underlying reasons that caused the mayhem, the study traces the history from 1947 onwards, examining the involvement of India's adversarial neighbour and New Delhi's political missteps in Kashmir. The book captures the ground situation in the Valley during 1989-90 from the administrative and security perspectives.

The author deliberately limited the study to 1991, believing that the insurgency in the Valley was still in its early stages and controllable. After that, the conflict escalated into asymmetric warfare, necessitating a different analytical approach.

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